This invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing location based vendor information in response to a request from subscriber using a mobile terminal.
While the invention is particularly directed to the art of wireless telecommunications networks, and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications.
By way of background, wireless telecommunications have come into widespread use. Today, a large percentage of the population communicate with others using mobile terminals, also known as mobile phones, wireless phones, cellular phones, etc. Wireless telecommunications networks now provide coverage for such large areas that people can have the freedom to move about at will while still being able communicate with each other using these mobile devices.
Wireless telecommunications service providers have sought to increase the number of people who use their networks by providing a wide range of services to their customers, also known as subscribers. Mobile terminals can now send and receive data and text messages in addition to providing voice communications. These terminals can also provide geolocation information that can be used to determine the location of the terminals. For example, geolocation information is used for determining the location of mobile terminals when dialing the emergency 911 number.
Wireless telecommunications service providers are always looking for new ways to accommodate the needs of their subscribers, given the ever increasing sophistication of mobile terminals. U.S. Pat. No. 6,650,902 to Richton assigned to Lucent Technologies which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes using the geolocation providing ability of mobile terminals to provide location based information to the terminal when the terminal's location satisfies a geographically based criteria. Richton teaches continually monitoring the location of mobile terminals and automatically providing them with location based information when they get near pre-defined geographic locations. However, this can create huge resource overhead problems involved with monitoring a large number of wireless terminals.
It is desirable to provide a simpler solution for providing location based information which does not require the continual monitoring of a mobile terminal's location. The present invention contemplates a new and improved that resolves the above-referenced difficulties and others.